The Kennedys: Stranger than fiction?

MANILA, Philippines - In November 1960, newly-elected US President John Kennedy is irked by his pushy father Joseph Sr., who reneges on a promise to Jack’s younger Robert Kennedy that he’d allowing him to get out of politics and move his practice to Boston. With equal parts indignation and exasperations, JFK says: “I believe they elected me president, not you.”

Before climaxing on this scene, the viewer is unceremoniously dropped into the thick of the action — at the Kennedy abode right on election day in 1960. Even as victory is imminent, the tension in the premises is palpable. After all, this is the most ardent desire of Joe Sr.: For a Kennedy to occupy the highest post in the free world.

But this is merely the beginning of the intriguing mini-series that is The Kennedys, History’s formidable eight-part spectacle on America’s last royal family. With an ensemble cast and a generous $25M production budget, that docu-drama marks a first for History, and Charles Less, advertising sales head of AETN All Asia Networks, says it won’t definitely be the last.

This is notwithstanding the difficulties The Kennedys has had to go through in the United States as the Kennedy family has stopped History from airing the show stateside (another network, ReelzChannel, picked up on it, though).

Admittedly, this is quite easy to understand. Even for people with a general idea of the, well, indiscretions and eyebrow raisers behind the scenes, The Kennedys (at least the first two episodes we were privileged to preview at the Rockwell Mall cinema) paints a quite unflattering account of the former first family.

There is no doubt as to who’s in charge: The strong-willed patriarch Joseph “Joe” Kennedy Sr. (Tom Wilkinson) — the puppet master orchestrating the fate of his sons with the ultimate intent of going to the White House. Blessed with neither bashfulness nor humility, Joe is nonetheless like a patient oyster making its pearl. “This mick is going to the White House,” he declares. “Kennedys never come second — ever.”

However, Joe Sr.’s ambition gets the better of him as he gravely miscalculates the Nazis forthrightness on the cusp of the Second World War, and puts a toe out of line. President Theodore Roosevelt fires his mercurial Ambassador to Great Britain, laying Joe Sr.’s presidential ambitions in ruins.

But the Kennedy patriarch sees this sidelining as a temporary setback, and begins to set his sights on grooming his namesake Joe Jr. for the presidency.

Meantime, by the sidelines, young Jack also shows promise — not mention a, well, affinity with the opposite sex that he would never shake or outgrow. We would see later how Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy silently suffered through Jack’s flirtations and indiscretions with girls who gravitated towards the charming, powerful man.

Despite his father’s plans, young JFK is also suffused with a desire to shine. WWII would provide him with a stage — the same stage that would also prove to be the undoing of Joe Jr. “You’ll be president no matter what Jack does,” Joe Sr. had assured his namesake. Oh, but how fate spat on his designs.

Philandering, shady dealing, arrogance, manipulation, insensitivity, unbridled ambition — and (as The Carpenters would’ve put it) we’ve only just begun.

The ensemble cast of Greg Kinnear (as JFK), Katie Holmes (Jacqueline), Barry Pepper (RFK) and Tom Wilkinson is directed by 24’s Jon Casser. The mini-series is produced by Joel Surlow, and written by Stephen Kronish. AETN All Asia Networks senior marketing manager Hazel Yap says History is immensely proud to be able to deliver the spectacle to Asian homes.

Even as pro-Kennedy quarters have shown their disdain for the less-than-flattering account, History says “The Kennedys has broken viewership records for the highest-rated movie or special presentation on History Channel in Canada and ReelzChannel in the US... and has broken audience records in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Belgium and Ireland. Among critics, The New York Post called the series ‘without a doubt one of the best, most riveting, historically accurate dramas about a time and place in American history that has ever been done for TV’.”

Still, one might wonder about the agenda of the people behind the show. Are they bent on sullying the Kennedy name, or merely want us to stop lionizing this iconic famialy? I’m withholding judgment until I see the rest of the episodes, but one should duly commend the producers — if only for making us rethink not the Kennedy legacy, but whether or not it is unadulterated.

Consider, too, that The Kennedys has amassed no less than 10 Emmy Awards nominations — among them nods for Outstanding Mini-series or Movie, Outstanding Lead Actor (Kinnear and Pepper), and Outstanding Supporting Actor (Wilkinson).

As we stand up from our seats to leave the theater, someone jests that the next mini-series would be called The Clintons. Seriously, one doubts if that would be as gripping. Well, maybe a certain oval office scene would deliver some entertainment value.

The Kennedys debuts in Asia on History tonight at 9.